Weather is the environment in which pilots and air carriers choose to operate. Adverse weather impact the safety and efficiency of air transportation. Weather is a contributing factor in nearly 25% of accidents and in over 30% of fatal accidents in the US every year. One problem is that the weather data that is provided to pilots, both on the ground and in the air, is text-based. Obscure codes make it difficult to quickly understand the weather conditions as pilots need to decipher and translate TAFs and METARs into plain language.
Further, weather conditions affect routes and fuel consumption, which ultimate affects an airline's operating efficiency and passenger satisfaction. Often, extra fuel is loaded because of unknown weather conditions as a safety measure which adds weight and increases consumption. In-flight hazards, such as turbulence may not be known to a pilot until the airplane is in flight. This makes it harder to avoid such hazards and select new routes. More importantly, convective weather such as airmass and line storms cause ground delays, disruptions and inefficient aircraft deviations and diversions. Weather is a source of major source of delays in the National Airspace System and analytical studies on this topic have quantified avoidable delays to over $300 millions (Evans, 2004).
Thus, there is a need to provide better, more decipherable information to pilots. Pilots need to be better informed and more prepared in order to increase safety. Better information will also reduces operating costs and delays, and ultimately increases customer satisfaction.